Well, Begrudgingly, Kicking and Screaming the Time Has Come

I had to break down and sell my Pitts S2B, N98R. She started this journey and I hated to do it but I was out of choices. She served me well and allowed me to join the ranks of the IAC all while gaining great experience, training and preparation to embark on my Airshow career. All along the way I made great, lasting friendships. The last 7 years have been a true joy for me. I bought the two seater, mainly, so I could share the thrill, I had only dreamt of, with my friends, family and anyone who asked for a ride. I have participated in Parade fly overs with guys like Rob Holland and Kendal Simpson. I trained with Rob and Kendal, Sean Tucker and Sergei Boriak in 98R. But the most rewarding part of owning and flying 98R has been the faces of the many, many people that I have had the pleasure to take up for a ride. For so many it was a once in a lifetime experience and everyone came down with a huge smile, exclaiming their gratitude and appreciation for sharing the aerobatic experience with them. Some have gone on to earn Aeronautical Engineering degrees saying that first flight in the Pitts is what pushed them to go after their dream. Others were just excited to scratch it off their bucket list.

I believe flying and aviation in general is for everyone who has ever dreamt of leaving the ground, I have truly enjoyed my time with 98R and am honored to have flown with so many people. It will always remind me of how lucky and blessed I have been to live my dream and I can only hope to help so many more grounded friends reach theirs.

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Looks Whats Coming Home

So tonight we finished up the work on the wings and their time at Daves shop has come to an end. Soon they will be making their trip home where we can do the final prep, cover and paint. There is still a lot of work to do but I am excited to have them a few steps away and to start the long walk down the final stretch that will result in a flying airplane.

Top Wing Leading Edges

This week we glued the leading edges and center section on the top wing. Were on the final stretches will be covering pretty soon.

2012 in review – Thank You all that are following along.

Some interesting stats from WordPress. When I started this plane I knew it would be an intriguing and fulfilling journey. This blog has been a fun chronological of the project. Thank You all that have been watching along. I hope it is half as interesting as the plane has been to build. If anyone watching would have suggestions that would improve the blog shoot me a note.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 30,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 7 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Upper Ailerons

So Dave’s Welder-Miller crapped out, and it is just out off warranty, so they are torturing him. We have been down since around Thanksgiving. It is a recurring problem that was fixed under warranty once already. So about a week ago we decided that we weren’t going to be seeing the welder in a while thanks to the Miller runaround and that we would build the upper ailerons.

We laid out the wing, set our inboard and outboard hinges, laid the aileron spars, and ribs. Check out the pictures. BTW Miller finally returned Dave’s welder, it’s in the background in some of the pictures… Still doesn’t work…

Finishing Up Elevator Controls System

With the majority of the plumbing done it was time to finish up the control system to the elevators. This took a great attention to detail to make sure everything was level, even and square before we tacked in the control horns to the elevators. With that said we have a total travel of 40 degrees up and 40 degrees down.

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Plumbing, Plumbing, Plumbing

Bottom of the smoke tank with the smoke line going back to the pump under the header tank.

A look at the fuel pump

A good shot of the Smoke and Header tank mounts

Side View

A good view of the fuel filter and fuel valve

Left Side View

So we have been agonizing over proper placement of the fuel and smoke system pumps, filters, valves and plumbing. It’s amazing how much effort goes into putting what seems to be simple systems together, but when you are thinking about how everything is going to feed in three dimensions, twisting and tumbling through the air, it gets a little more complicated not to mention trying to keep everything out of the way of my feet and the controls. Eventually we were able to fit everything in, in what we think is a pretty clean setup. Have a look…